Our blog

Bank holiday revamp backed

Published: June 14, 2016

Many would like the government to review the current bank holiday calendar, according to a new survey.

A poll conducted by virtual assistant specialists ava found 51 per cent of people are not happy with the current bank holiday schedule. Changes were backed by 53 per cent of women, while 45 per cent of businesses believed they were impacted strongly by the public holidays.

Lucie Greenwood, sales manager at ava, explained many smaller companies would prefer the holidays to be spread out across the year to help reduce their impact on business.

“Losing two days of trade – as is the case in May – can put added strain on many businesses,” she explained.

“We’re seeing an increasing number of businesses scrapping some bank holidays altogether – instead giving their staff the extra days off in lieu. While this might not work for every company, it does give businesses more options and is a far less restrictive system.”

In 2012, research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research concluded that each public holiday could cost the country around £2.3 billion because of a lack of productivity. England and Wales currently have eight public holidays per year, compared to 15 in Cyprus and 14 in Spain.